[Verse 1 – Ken / Lansberry family] Names written in red on a trailer door, Four lives and a date from before the war. Dead lights hanging over a crooked tree, Tiny hands around their toys, mama holding all three. A broken dad in ink says, “I failed to keep you safe,” So I gave them one last fire and I burned away his shame. [Pre-Chorus 1] We can’t unbreak what the world tore down, But we can say their names out loud. If all that’s left is one last night, We’ll make this ruin feel like holy ground. [Chorus] This is Christmas in the wasteland, For the ghosts we still talk to at night. Set one more place at the table, Hold every empty chair in sight. In this broken, burning world we fight, No one eats alone tonight. [Verse 2 – Storme / first Christmas at the station] There’s a woman in a closet above the floor, First Christmas without her babies, she locks the door. Then Lena kicks it open, radio in her hand, Sends the boys for plastic lights and junk across the land. Later, shaking, she unwraps a chipped-up mug of clay, Tiny painted hands from the life that got away. [Pre-Chorus 2] We drag the past back through the snow, With every stupid string of lights we hang. If all you feel is what you’ve lost, We’ll hold you up when your heart can’t stand. [Chorus] This is Christmas in the wasteland, For the ghosts we still talk to at night. Set one more place at the table, Hold every empty chair in sight. In this broken, burning world we fight, No one eats alone tonight. [Verse 3 – Lena / Hawk Run rescue] Four miles out from town in a barroom cage, A woman and her kid face the dead on chains and rage. Quiet knives for the monsters sleeping at the bar, More with guns at the door, she prays under the stars. Then a passing family stops and opens fire in the night, Five more kids wake up and we carry them to the light. [Pre-Chorus 3] We can’t save everyone we find, But we can share the warmth we own. If we’ve got one roof and one hot meal, Your kids and mine both get a home. [Bridge] From the names written red on a trailer door, To the mug with tiny hands we guard forevermore, To the kids pulled out of cages in the barroom light, We’re stitching up this shattered world one family at a time. If the dead scratch loud at the walls outside, Let ’em hear us laugh, let ’em hear us cry. [Breakdown] Raise your glass for the ones who couldn’t stay, For the chairs at this table with nobody’s name. We are blood, we are chosen, we are fight, Holding on to each other in the dying of the light. [Final Chorus] This is Christmas in the wasteland, For the ghosts we still talk to at night. Set one more place at the table, Hold every empty chair in sight. In this broken, burning world we fight, No one eats alone tonight.
